Mohammed And Man At Yale

Michael Moynihan of Reason on the pre-emptive surrender by Yale University Press.

Comments

[sbw]

We were one of the few newspapers in the country to publish the cartoons.

Initially we editorialized against the threat to freedom of speech but did not see the need to invest the space to publish the cartoons. Then, when a national bookstore chains caved in to fear, we published them.

The liberty to offend is bedrock to a free society, however the freedom to offend does not imply the necessity to do so. Individual judgment is required.

[matt]

slouching towards Gomorrah.......if a university press feels that the controversy of an academic book outweighs the importance both of the subject and freedom of speech, we are in deep trouble. I wonder how Salman Rushdie feels.

[glasater]

The comments in TM's linked article are interesting. In fact this one was just downright funny:

Tulpa | August 13, 2009, 6:08pm | #

"when it came between that and blood on my hands, there was no question.”

You guys are misinterpreting him, this isn't cowardice. He was saying that if they published the cartoons, and some crazy group threatened him for it, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from ripping off his cardigan, grabbing a bunch of his Ivy League pals and a truckload of machine guns and ammo, painting themselves in camo, and going on a mission to find the threateners and kill them and their families in as slow a manner as possible.

On a somewhat O/T question--why is it that over at Tapper's one cannot "cut and paste" from his articles or comments?

[JM Hanes]

glasater:

The cut & paste thing is really irritating, isn't it? If you have a two button mouse, you can copy from the right click contextual menu, and you can copy from the pull down Edit menu (on a Mac). I almost invariably get popped back up to the top of the column, because I've forgotten not to use the keyboard command.

[narciso]

It does seem bizarre, if they were so concerned, than don't contract to publish the book, how are you going to convey the story, pantomine, Monty Python doesn't quite
cover this

[bruce]

why don't you just tell the truth about muslims and their criminal cult of killers?

[glasater]

Thanks JMH-

I'm on a Macbook and mostly use the pad or an attached Wacom tablet--no mice for me:)
But I do understand what you are saying for sure. It's just that over at Tapper's blog--when I used to try to copy "Fascist Hyena's" comment I would get this "bloop sound" and off the Tapper page I would go. Tapper's page does not behave for me as other pages do.

So much for a terrible explanation:)

[JM Hanes]

glasater:

I know exactly what you mean! It seems almost unique to ABC's site, and I suspect it was originally envisioned as a way to discourage profligate copyright infractions.

You can get the same pop-up menu if you click on the text you've selected while holding down the control key.

[glasater]

I will try that method next time--if there is a next time:) Thanks JMH

[Neo]

Must be some kind of "Birther" thing ...

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraq's cabinet has approved a bill to require all top government and security officials to renounce any foreign citizenships they hold or to step down, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.

The bill, which must be approved by parliament, would apply to the president, prime minister, speaker of parliament and their deputies, as well as key ministers and army and police commanders, Dabbagh said in a statement.

The ministers affected are those of the interior, defence, finance, oil and foreign affairs.

[bgates]

Neo, I saw Maliki's spokesman Ba'ab Ghibz released a statement denouncing those who claimed he was a Muslim....

[peter]

Why should Yale have any more balls than Cambridge University Press?

[Boatbuilder]

"Ba'ab Ghibz"--hah!

[larry]

You need to post a warning, bgates.

[When you know your argument is shit, go hyperbolic.]

Out, Out, damned spot of inconvenience.